Japan's female sailors on frontline of gender equality – in pictures

Japan's female sailors on frontline of gender equality – in pictures

Women serving on Japan’s biggest warship, the Kaga, are a tight-knit group on the frontline of a push to transform the country’s navy into a mixed-gender fighting force, where men outnumber them more than 10 to one

Photography by Kim Kyung-hoon and reporting by Tim Kelly for Reuters

Main image:
Sailors raise the Japanese naval ensign on the deck of the Kaga

Wed 10 Oct 2018 12.59 EDT
Last modified on Thu 11 Oct 2018 05.12 EDT

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force is suffering the effects of the falling birthrate. Due to the country’s ageing population, there are not enough men to crew warships and helicopter carriers, such as the Kaga, and the force needs to recruit more women

‘Women all over the world are working in a wider number of areas, and I think Japan needs to be a part of that,’ says Akiko Ihara, a petty officer, who is pictured guiding the landing of an SH-60K Seahawk on the Kaga’s flight deck

Ayako Yoneda (right), a firefighter and engineer on the Kaga, says: ‘When I joined nine years ago, there were few women and it felt like the men didn’t know how to deal with us. I think the men now see things more from our perspective. It has become a gentler place’